Bridge Around Raleigh: Seven Wonders #4 at rduwtf.com

Truly, this is a wonder that brands, measures and celebrates the City of Greenways. The Reedy Creek Bridge is a 660-foot span across I-440 that is the longest pedestrian bridge in North Carolina. Inspired by the Sydney Harbor Bridge, it is the highlight of the House Creek Greenway, a mile of highly varied landscapes winding around the Museum of Art Campus that was designated a National Recreation Trail ) in 2006. It is also a highly visible symbol of amazing cross-currents of energy, all whipping up enthusiasm for Raleigh’s increasingly impressive greenway system. DOT, ) the City, Meredith, NCSU, ) the Art Museum, ) and a local greenway activist group, all provided impetus and input for the project. Moreover, the bridge physically links an impressive list of neighbors: two college campuses, the Museum, the Green Environmental Education Center, a University research forest, ) the Army National Guard Armory, some prime open space, and Umstead Park, which will eventually connect to the American Tobacco Trail.

The structure is imposing, an arresting sight from a car on the Beltline, and yet classic and well integrated in appearance. The twelve foot wide triple arch span provides an intimate (and for some, dizzying) experience of Beltline traffic,

and the simulated stone towers look very much in place and in proportion to the site.

It makes a satisfying goal whether you are coming from the beginning of the Reedy Creek trail at Hillsborough and Gorman, or making your way through the wooded hillside from the nature park at the Art Museum.
If you haven’t investigated the nature park evolving around the NC Art Museum, shame on you. The best place to park is the Museum lot, but this experience is worth its own separate trip from the Museum itself. Thomas Sayre’s enormous clay rings, cast with the help of Enloe High students, are just one highlight of an evolving fairy tale landscape, with environmental scultures, Clyde Jones creatures, and a re-creation of heirloom prairie habitat. Yes, the Southern Piedmont had prairie habitats (most of us would call them meadows), and you can see two prime examples on the Reedy Creek trail - the other being the Prairie Ridge ) site surrounding the wet lab for the Museum of Natural Sciences. The greenway hooks down into this facility in order to tunnel under Edward Mill road, and continues on past Schenk Forest to the Graylyn Drive entrance to Umstead, where the loss of parking recently made a stir.

On the other side of the bridge, controversy has reigned over several different issues. Meredith’s campus locks up access to the bridge at 6 PM, and also locks it’s Wade Avenue entrance, so various groups have cried foul, though compromises seem to be emerging. The plan is to build an extension spur of the greenway that would provide access to the Meredith side of the bridge from Ridge Road. There certainly is no gate at the Trail’s beginning, but it is a bit odd and abrupt, situated at such a busy intersection. I usually park on Clark just across Faircloth, and just south of here Gorman Street beckons a hiker or bicyclist with connections to Western Boulevard, Lake Johnson, and Centennial Campus. The Reedy Creek Bridge is a daily reminder for thousands that Raleigh is committed to a true city-crossing pedestrian system, and the myriad interests that intersect at the site are a decent snapshot of the forces at play in Raleigh’s greening. May the green force be with us as our open spaces dwindle ever down.

8 Responses to “Bridge Around Raleigh: Seven Wonders #4”

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1 A Loud Arcane Toad Dec 3rd, 2007 at 3:41 am

As much as I would love to scrap with our Furry Geezer on the aesthetics of the bridge over the Beltline, I cannot. My quibbles are trumped by the sheer utility of this thing, and by the noted commitment of Raleigh to its greenway system. The opening of the bridge was a worthy celebration, and its continuing use is a wonder only hampered by Meredith’s weird boundary enforcement issues. While the structure itself isn’t anywhere near being in the class of, say, the Livestock Judging Pavilion (aka Dorton Arena), the opportunities it presents and presentiments are bountiful indeed.
2 Michael Dec 4th, 2007 at 4:33 pm

Isn’t it ironic that this structure is being praised on the same page as the rendering for the Five Points development is being trashed. Why did we say ‘yes’ to this uninspired reactionary design. Simulated stone piers, and superficial references to historic structures built the century before last? Also wreaks of po-mo. We could have done much better. (Check out this pedestrian bridge in Seattle http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/visualart/159686_architecture09.html) To its credit, I suppose it is pretty amazing it didn’t come out as a typical DOT project with concrete tees and chainlink like several of the pedestrian bridges over the Durham Freeway, but at least they’re honest in their expression (or lack there of).
3 A Loud Arcane Toad Dec 7th, 2007 at 3:49 am

Hey, Michael, thanks for commenting. That Seattle bridge is indeed very cool. The irony level remains low here because the Geezer and the Toad are two different people with two different (although quite often aligned) brains. Aesthetically the ped bridge isn’t that inspired. But as I said, what it represents as far as Raleigh’s dedication to a greenway system is more important. And very little had to be destroyed to install that bridge and stretch of greenway. Contrast that with another hideous private development that will destroy the interesting fabric of Raleigh and voila, no irony.

P.S.–I think you meant “reeks” and not “wreaks.”
4 The Furry Geezer Dec 9th, 2007 at 3:33 pm

I love the Seattle bridge! I visited there for a week last spring and fell in love with the whole area. That bridge looks just like the spirit of Seattle. Raleigh is certainly no Seattle, and our ped bridge fits in quite nicely, compared to other “growths’ on the landscape. The irony, if there is any, will always be present on RDUWTF, which includes my “Mr.Positive/celebratory” posts as well as the sharp wits of slightly younger “aging Raleigh hipsters.” Now simulated stone - that’s another can of worms. There is a hideous, fairly old example a block from me in Oakwood, complete with sections falling off, showing the original clapboard. The Furry Geezer’s favorite piece of Raleigh architecture (and I am no architecture critic) is Christ Church off Capitol Square, which is built with very real and very local stone. Thanks indeed, for the comments, Michael, and the Seattle bridge link.
5 Michael Dec 13th, 2007 at 11:50 am

I like that church as well. Each of the churches just off the Capitol square are all quite nice. Speaking of irony, isn’t it amazing the number of churches that are adjacent to the Capitol.

I don’t entirely dissagree about the greenway bridge. I’m not sure what you mean when you say it fits in. There’s no context in that location but trees and interstate. I don’t think the bridge is a bad structure but I think it was a perfect opportunity to break the mold and do something wild and interesting like the Amgen bridge in Seattle.

I could see that it ‘fits in’ in the sense that it has a lot of similar elements to other Raleigh architecture. But I have to counter by noting that Dorton Arena and the Catalano house (as seen on your banner) don’t make any attempts to reference what was the architectural norm in Raleigh at the time they were built and are (were) considered some of the finest most forward thinking pieces of architecture in the region. And I would say the reason for that was that they took a pure approach of addressing a structural problem in an efficient and innovative way that is also quite beautiful. If the design of this bridge had taken the same approach, I think it could have been great and truly worthy of being one of Raleigh’s Wonders and been truly representative of the city’s innovation and dedication to the Greenway system. Unfortunately, I guess it merely fits in.

Check out bridges by Santiago Calatrava too (designer of Milwaukee’s Museum of art addition).
6 streetgeek Feb 12th, 2008 at 1:00 am

I just stumbled upon this site, and I happened to notice this article about the beloved greenway bridge over the Beltline. There are couple of notable corrections to the original story that I can’t allow to pass with correction though:

1) The bridge design was not inspired by the Sydney opera house. The design is a modified version of a standard arch truss. The actual inspiration for the bridge was the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge in Minneapolis. While ours is not as artistically interesting as theirs, considering the fact that the original plan was to build a tunnel, we did okay.

2) Your description of the history also notes that there were multiple forces that aligned to facilitate the bridge’s construction. While mostly correct, your inclusion of the Get2theGreenway doesn’t fit the chronology. This group was formed after the bridge was opened and the fine folks at Meredith decided to lock the Wade Avenue gate. As most of the members of this group lived off Ridge Road and couldn’t get to the greenway (hence the name) without going down to Hillsborough Street.
7 The Furry Geezer Feb 12th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

Talking Points for Deputy Secretary David King
Dedication Ceremony for the Reedy Creek Greenway and I-440 Pedestrian Bridge
Monday, April 4, 2005
“I am told that its design was inspired by the Sydney Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia”
http://www.ncdot.org/public/speeches/reedycreekgreenway.html
I believe you,streetgeek, and here is my research. But thanks for the information. Ongoing functionality is part of the creation process, don’t you think? The new path westward on the north side of Wade Avenue will provide access and enable Meredith to be secure as well. This bridge is indeed beloved - and the new sections of the House Creek greenway will make it even more wonderful.
8 Tim. Feb 26th, 2008 at 2:14 pm

Hmmm.

Study: Raleigh Bridges Rank Among Worst in State
http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/2488677/

“Like a game of chess when the house is a mess”

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Bridge Around Raleigh: Seven Wonders #4

8 Responses to “Bridge Around Raleigh: Seven Wonders #4”

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